photo by: Josie Heimsoth/Journal-World

Douglas County commissioners meet on Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2026.

Douglas County commissioners are looking for ways to better evaluate the results of county-funded programs and improve reporting from community partners without creating unnecessary administrative work.

During a work session on Wednesday, county staff presented many proposed changes to funding agreements with community organizations. The Journal-World outlined many of the recommended revisions in a previous article, and commissioners generally supported the changes.

However, county commissioners also discussed whether they receive information about community partners enough to understand how county funding is being used and what results it produces.

The county uses two different types of agreements to outline its expectations and restrictions for distributing funding to community partners. There are agreements for when funding is under $80,000 – which the county calls “community partner agreements,” and larger agreements known as “service agreements” for when funding exceeds that threshold.

The most notable change would be raising the threshold for both agreements. County staff are proposing that any agency receiving under $100,000 in county funding would sign a community partner agreement. Any amounts exceeding $100,000 would require a service agreement. The memo said the change would align the threshold with the County Administrator’s purchasing authority.

Commissioner Shannon Reid said that while she thinks moving to a $100,000 threshold makes sense, there’s another thing to discuss moving forward. Reid said she wanted to explore how many times it would be necessary to check in with community partners to make sure they’re meeting the deliverables outlined in agreements with the county.

Reid added that any changes to agreements with community partners may be a good opportunity to divide the partners into “sectors” – whether it’s behavioral health or homelessness services – and see how they are progressing toward their goals.

However, County Administrator Sarah Plinsky said depending on how often the county commissioners want to hear updates from community partners in each sector, it can be difficult to do so outside of budget season.

“This is a heavy load for staff and partners,” Plinsky said. ” … The amount of how heavy (a) lift does vary from partner to partner, so I want to be cautious. If you’re going to hear from every strategic program area every quarter, that’s a lot.”

While she understood the demand it can have on community partners, Reid said there are some partners the County Commission doesn’t hear from outside of budget conversations in the summer.

Commissioner Patrick Kelly agreed about receiving more updates from partners, but said it wouldn’t have to be quarterly updates.

Commissioner Karen Willey pointed out that community partners send their year-end report to the county in the spring as they’re preparing their budget requests for the county commissioners to consider. When county staff receive the yearly reports, it may be beneficial for the commissioners to have them around that time as well so they can see it earlier.

“I think that’s a fantastic time to just put the information back in our direction, … and so we learn what is important that’s being measured within your organization,” Willey said. “So I think that’s a good time of year to start thinking.”

As the Journal-World reported, in July, county commissioners brought up the idea of whether or not they should reduce support for organizations that may no longer need the same level of county funding. They said this could be an opportunity for county savings.

After going through the proposed changes to both agreements, county staff have raised a separate question about whether the county should establish a minimum and maximum fund-balance guidelines for community partners.

On Wednesday, many of the county commissioners said they don’t necessarily want the fund balance to determine whether or not a partner receives county funding, but would like organizations to further explain their fund balance standing.

Plinsky said there is already a required box community partners must fill out in reference to their fund balance, but they all fill it out differently.

Kelly suggested for the county commissioners to make a commitment in outlining specific community partners where they have questions about their high or low fund balances and communicate those questions to county staff.

IN OTHER BUSINESS, COMMISSIONERS:

• Deferred a presentation from county staff about the potential to extend the seasonal fireworks sale dates for Independence Day celebrations. Currently, Douglas County permits firework sales on July 1 through July 4. However, county commissioners have expressed an interest in extending the timeframe for which they can be sold.

The presentation was deferred because Commissioner Erica Anderson was absent from Wednesday’s meeting, and she initiated the request for county staff to look into extending firework sales.